Ch.63New Choice

The feast at the Willow Sanctuary, which began around lunchtime, continued until dinner.

After defeating three elven men in succession, Mina maintained a composed expression while fixing broken toys, quickly becoming a star among the elven children.

Jessica and Seti learned how to make aromatic candles effective at repelling insects from women who, even at the most generous estimate, looked no older than college students.

I received thunderous applause from the men by hitting clay shooting practice figurines with a single panning shot or showing off gun-spinning tricks.

Phyllis busily moved around conversing with many people, and at some point, she disappeared with Roberta and old man Bogus.

She probably went to discuss the fears she had been harboring until now, as well as future matters.

After enjoying the delightful feast, we stayed one more day at the Willow Sanctuary and departed for the Third Western City on the morning of the 26th.

It had already been two days since we left the city to hunt the Demon Rose, and before heading to our next destination, we needed to return to the Western City first.

This was because the Willow Sanctuary, an elven village, couldn’t purify the black magical power accumulated in the bodies of the four of us.

Just before leaving the Willow Sanctuary with Ancestor, all members of the Guardian Unit, including Phyllis, gathered for final farewells.

“I’m sorry, Roberta. You’ll have a hard time because of my sudden insistence on leaving the sanctuary.”

“It’s fine. I’ve been preparing to take over your duties for the past six months in anticipation of this day.”

Captain Phyllis stood beside us, while Vice-Captain Roberta and the other subordinates stood across from us to exchange greetings.

Whatever had been weighing on Phyllis’s mind seemed to have been resolved through our conversation, and she finally decided to leave the Willow Sanctuary to embark on a journey to save Iris.

Roberta, Phyllis’s adjutant and vice-captain, was promoted to captain of the Guardian Unit as of today.

She had tried to maintain the position that she would only serve as acting captain, keeping Phyllis’s position open, but apparently she reluctantly agreed to take over the captain’s position after Phyllis convinced her that it wouldn’t be good to leave the Guardian Unit’s leadership vacant for too long, especially with the Elder succession being delayed.

“Adventurers, please take good care of Captain Phyllis.”

“Ah, we’ll do our best to help safely return Elder successor Iris.”

“I have no doubt the captain will do her utmost in that regard. What I’m asking is something else.”

“Something else?”

“Captain Phyllis tends to oversleep in the mornings, eats carelessly, and is rather untidy in her personal habits. She’s been forcing herself to set a good example for the unit these past few years, but actually…”

“Ro-Roberta!!”

“Ahem… I apologize for the indiscretion. In any case, the entire Guardian Unit wishes you all safe travels.”

“Uh… right, understood.”

Though Phyllis had changed her speech and personality to play the role of a meticulous captain, it seems her true nature was already well-known to those around her, including Roberta.

It probably wouldn’t take long for the women in our party to discover Phyllis’s real personality either.

After walking for several hours back to the Third Western City, we secured lodging and immediately headed to the New Continent Pioneer Project branch to get Phyllis’s Frontier License card issued.

Since elves had a license agreement in place, they could obtain a Frontier License without special achievements or complicated procedures, so it took less than 10 minutes for Phyllis’s license card to be issued.

Afterward, there was still plenty to prepare for our upcoming adventure, such as purchasing travel supplies for Phyllis and creating new spells using the magical elements obtained from the Demon Rose.

However, at Jessica’s request that there was something we needed to decide first, we gathered in one of the rooms for a brief meeting.

“I wanted to discuss our upcoming journey.”

With that introduction, Jessica spread a map on the floor and pointed to two locations: the Third Western City and the Fourth Western City.

“The journey from here to Riverside, the Fourth Western City, is over 80 kilometers—quite a long distance. At the typical marching pace of travelers on foot, we’d arrive around noon on the fifth day.”

“That’s quite far. Considering the dangers of black magical power, shouldn’t the cities be closer to each other?”

Although it’s said that a healthy human adult can withstand black magical power for five days, that’s merely a statistical average, and the actual duration can vary depending on individual physical abilities and condition.

Considering the possibility of delays due to unexpected incidents such as monster attacks or bad weather, building the next city at a location that would consume the entire five-day time limit seems too risky.

“Because of that issue, the New Continent Pioneer Project Headquarters planned to establish an outpost with a minor barrier at the midpoint between the two cities. But as luck would have it, there was already a village of Cotton Folk natives at that exact suitable location.”

“Ah! I think I’ve heard about this. What was it… the Lewen something negotiation?”

“The Lewen-Jeremiah Negotiation. I’ll tell you the details another time, but to cut to the conclusion, a minor barrier was installed in the Cotton Folk village, and after extensive renovation work, it became ‘Cotton Tail Trading Post,’ a small town that guarantees free access for pioneers.”

“So our next destination is this Cotton Tail Trading Post. But why bring this up now?”

We’ll pass through the Cotton Folk village with its minor barrier on our way to the Fourth Western City.

If that were all, this conversation could have waited until after we cleared the disease dungeon and were staying in the city.

The fact that Jessica brought this up now, just as Phyllis joined the party, suggests that her addition to our group has changed our upcoming journey.

Noticing my thoughts, Jessica moved her finger south from the Cotton Tail Trading Post marked on the map.

“About two days south of Cotton Tail Trading Post, there’s a special mountain. Mount Evernight—a mountain of darkness where night continues 24 hours a day and even lantern light can’t penetrate far. It’s one of the magical domains occasionally found in Grantis.”

“A magical domain…”

In Grantis, magic refers to supernatural phenomena beyond the scope of spells used by mages.

The fact that one cannot sail beyond Grantis is also due to such magic, and in a broader sense, the black magical power covering the entire Grantis could also be considered a type of magic.

In other words, the mountain south of Cotton Tail Trading Post is a mysterious realm under the magical influence of “perpetual night.”

“Ancient ruins have been confirmed to exist halfway up Mount Evernight. However, no one has ever climbed the mountain—which is teeming with nocturnal predators and undead monsters—investigated the ruins, and returned alive.”

“Ah, I see. Since Phyllis, who can see through darkness, has joined our party, you’re suggesting we challenge these unexplored ruins?”

“Yes. An elf’s night vision should be able to penetrate Mount Evernight’s darkness, and our party’s combat power has increased significantly.”

“If there’s a situation where I can be of help, I’ll gladly do my best. However, listening to Jessica’s explanation, something bothers me…”

“What is it?”

“I’ve heard that elves have long had a license agreement with humans and cooperated in exploration activities. Surely someone must have taken elves up that mountain Evernight before, so why does it remain unexplored until now? Isn’t that suspicious?”

“That’s true…”

Phyllis’s question was valid.

The fact that elves have the ability to see through darkness is well-known among humans, and anyone could easily think of seeking elven help to explore ruins on a mountain of perpetual night.

Yet despite this, why has no one conquered the ancient ruins of Mount Evernight?

“Are there powerful monsters there?”

“There are no records of creatures with danger level B or higher being discovered on Mount Evernight. Besides, the ruins on Mount Evernight were first spotted almost 20 years after Cotton Tail Trading Post was completed, so the actual period it has remained unexplored isn’t that long.”

“I suppose by then, most decent adventurers would have pushed much further west. Few would bother investigating ancient ruins with no apparent clues for conquest.”

“Hmm~ So when do we leave? If I work hard, I think I can complete the revolver upgrade plan by tonight.”

“I’m planning to stay in this city today too. I want to create new spells using the magical elements we got from the Demon Rose.”

Although the Demon Rose extermination request at the Willow Sanctuary was carried out more like volunteer work without expecting much compensation, it ultimately yielded more rewards than any dungeon or ancient ruins we had visited so far.

We gained Phyllis, an excellent elven sniper, as a comrade; Mina found inspiration through the elven secret techniques Phyllis uses; and the formulas embedded in the Demon Rose’s magic stone became Jessica’s new power.

With a major power-up using these adventure rewards, I believe we could successfully conquer the unknown ruins of Mount Evernight.

“Everyone has preparations to make for the journey ahead, but first, I’d like us to discuss each party member’s capabilities. There are important things Phyllis needs to hear.”

“Ah… right. I almost forgot about that.”

“Is it about the rules within the party? As a newcomer, it’s certainly important for me to understand those aspects.”

“Well, that’s important too, but… don’t be shocked when you hear this. The truth is, I—”

I began explaining about my secret ability to read Arcane Words and the true identity of Ancestor I had discovered through it, curious to see how Phyllis would react.

About five minutes later, the expression on Phyllis’s face…

For the sake of her honor, I’ll omit the description, but it was definitely worth paying money to see.